Serial rapist ‘linked by traces of DNA to sex attack in 1987’

CONVICTED sex attacker Antoni Imiela was accused yesterday of the rape of a petite mother-of-two nearly 25 years ago.

The Old Bailey was told Antoni Imiela has been found guilty already of raping seven women []

The Old Bailey was told he has been found guilty already of raping seven women in a “savage and perverted campaign”.

But a jury heard yesterday that the 57-year-old was linked by DNA evidence to an attack on a woman who has since died.

Imiela allegedly grabbed Sheila Jankowitz in the early hours of Christmas Day 1987, violently raped and indecently assaulted her, punched her in the face and threatened to kill her.

He was linked to the attack in south-east London by DNA evidence taken from the victim and matched to his after he was convicted of the later offences.

The victim died six years ago but her account of the degrading attack was read to the court.

Richard Hearnden, prosecuting, told the jury Imiela’s defence was that he had consensual sex with Mrs Jankowitz.

He dragged me behind a shed. I couldn’t scream. I was frightened and he had his hand over my mouth. He threw me on my back.

Sheila Jankowitz

He added: “Between November 2001 and the autumn of the following year, Antoni Imiela raped seven other females.

“He was linked to those by the presence of his DNA. He denied the offences and he stood trial for them. In March 2004 he was found guilty of those rapes by a jury.

“It would be an extraordinary coincidence for Mrs Jankowitz to have fabricated an allegation of rape against a totally innocent man, a man with whom she had enjoyed consensual sex and a man who we now know, later went on to rape seven other females in similar circumstances.”

The court heard that Mrs Jankowitz, then aged 29, and her husband Erwin – both South African – were on their way back from a pub in Forest Hill on Christmas Eve when they lost each other.

Mrs Jankowitz said in her statement she felt “tipsy” but after returning home to find her husband had not arrived, went back into the street to find him.

She said a man ran towards her, grabbed her round the neck and pulled her onto waste ground.

Mrs Jankowitz added: “He dragged me behind a shed. I couldn’t scream. I was frightened and he had his hand over my mouth. He threw me on my back.

“He picked up a brick, which he held in his right hand through the act. He said, ‘Don’t look at me or I will kill you, you f***ing slag’.”

Mrs Jankowitz said when he finished, he ran away.

She added: “At no time had I seen this man before and I did not ask him to have sex.”

Jill Stevens, Mrs Jankowitz’s mother-in-law, who was baby-sitting, said Sheila returned in a “mess” with “bruises” and told her: “I was raped.”

Mr Hearnden said the chances of the DNA found on Mrs Jankowitz not being Imiela’s were less than one in a billion. Imiela, of Appledore, Kent, denies rape, indecent assault and another sexual act. The trial continues.

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